2010: The Year of Job Board Scripts and Scams

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Thanks to a faltering economy, the online outsourcing industry has been inundated with an onslaught of “job~boards” since 2010, which on the surface, sounds like a good thing. People lose jobs, the Internet gives them back. It’s a sweet deal for those with skills easily transferrable to the electronic environment and those with resources needed to maintain a virtual working platform.

But there are some serious problems with these rising “opportunities” that are just too hard to ignore.

Problem #1: Job Boards Lack Regulation

Job boards, for the most part, run free of regulation. I say ‘for the most part,’ because a few legitimate ones, like vWorker, regulate themselves. Legitimate job boards operate under a registered business license for example, they exist in approved zones, they’re bonded and insured, and they’re registered with the Better Business Bureau.

A Good Read: The Truth About Employment Scams

On the Internet, things change. A “business” becomes a business the minute someone slaps up a website with its own domain name, and that unfortunately includes the job board business. There may be legal requirements to fulfill, but few fulfill them. There may be laws to obey, but few obey them. Even fewer comply with industry or ethical standards in this country or any other, which is what makes the web the touch-and-go situation that it is.

In fact, the only thing stopping “Jane” from giving “John” her credit card information in this environment, is her own common sense and savvy consumerism. In times of desperation however, even Jane can be swindled.

Problem #2: Employment Scams are on the Rise

According to recent news reports, recession-related scams flourished this past year, prompting consumer watch dogs to issue warnings non-stop. Of particular concern are warnings against employment scams, where jobless hopefuls pay a fee of some sort in an effort to find work that may never come. Below, you can see how those reports significantly increased within the last two years.

Data secured from a date-ranged Google news search

Problem #3: Anyone Can Run a Job Site

A Good Read: The Con: How Scams Work, Why You’re Vulnerable, and How to Protect Yourself

A significant interest in free job board scripts skyrocketed in a similar pattern. Anyone can run a job site and gain access to sensitive data (names, addresses, social security numbers, credit card numbers, etc.) with just a computer, internet connection, and a simple cgi or php job board script. That means the brand new job board you might have heard about, the one with the cute Web 2.0 name and hokey interface, could be in the hands of a snot-nosed 13 year old who can’t even keep his room clean, but can surely wreak havoc with private info. 

Even worse, it could be in the hands of someone who’s under no obligation, legally or ethically, to follow U.S. laws or accommodate your rights as a consumer.

I don’t know about you, but to me, that’s a bit concerning.

Look at how the interest in job board scripts shot up to almost double from 2009:

Admittedly, the implied correlation is drenched in speculation. I probably could have come up with a similar correlation between employment scams and babies born with alien-shaped birthmarks. But when I look at the number of search results that demonstrate interest in job board scams as well, I notice a dramatic jump within the last year too. In a single decade, search results increased from 15,300 in 2000 to 396,000 in 2010. Compared to 2009, interest increased 32 times in 2010, while two years prior, it rose by just a small percentage in 2008 from 2007.

So just what does all of this mean, exactly?

A Good Read: How to Spot Scams Online: First Edition

Is it too presumptuous to suspect a relationship between the number of results for job board scripts and scams? (Within the same year!) Would it be equally presumptuous to suspect a relationship between the number of search results for exploding cell phones and ear surgeries?  How about malfunctioning iPads and requests for refunds? Answers can be found in questions, and that’s what this article tries to provide.

Solution

While you, the outsourcer, aren’t perusing job boards for employment, you are perusing them for paid solutions. Don’t throw caution into the wind — not when we could be facing a trending scam. I strongly advise you to outsource your projects to a well-established outsourcing service only, and let all of these new pop-up job boards earn their keep the old-fashioned way, like their predecessors did.

When in doubt, match a job board’s physical address and phone number with data supplied by Google Maps. Google Maps won’t list a company that doesn’t verify its address and phone number. Then hop over to the Better Business Bureau and note how a job board in question responds to complaints. If that isn’t enough, wait 3 – 4 months before using a new job board while you search forums and complaint boards for more insight. While no business is perfect, these simple steps can prevent a very unfortunate experience.

Current events can be found in our Job Boards News section.